Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
#137
Re: Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
It is when it comes to my nephew.
He has a mother whose grandparent came from Ireland, but being American-Irish does not have enough street cred for him, so he has researched Irish history (more than he ever has done for school) and he discovered the 'Black Irish', he has decide that he must be descended from Basque survivors of the Armada washed up on the Irish coast. He thinks this makes him Latino. I tried to explain to him that in the words of Alaves football club, supporters "We are not Spanish we are Basque". That being Basque and claiming Latino status just because the Basque country overlaps some Spanish lands, is not necessarily in the spirit of things.
He has a mother whose grandparent came from Ireland, but being American-Irish does not have enough street cred for him, so he has researched Irish history (more than he ever has done for school) and he discovered the 'Black Irish', he has decide that he must be descended from Basque survivors of the Armada washed up on the Irish coast. He thinks this makes him Latino. I tried to explain to him that in the words of Alaves football club, supporters "We are not Spanish we are Basque". That being Basque and claiming Latino status just because the Basque country overlaps some Spanish lands, is not necessarily in the spirit of things.
#138
Re: Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
Not something I've thought long and hard about but I think a person born here, raised here, paying in here etc. and still living here has more right to be granted citizenship than somebody who has a great grandparent emigrated and dead and buried years ago in another land.
#139
Re: Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
I've seen this question come up since I joined BE. At first I did try to explain. I'm now of the opinion that it's one of those differences that people from other places cannot understand. It's beyond your comprehesion. I've come to recognize it as one of those things that makes the US unique and I value it.
At the same time, when I'm feeling slightly more cynical, I think it might be one of those things that people from elsewhere do not want to understand. It's just too good of a joke to ruin.
At the same time, when I'm feeling slightly more cynical, I think it might be one of those things that people from elsewhere do not want to understand. It's just too good of a joke to ruin.
Methinks you're right. On the one hand, we are decried as being a young country with "no history" and on the other, if we try to link back to prior history from our forebearers' homeland, we are mocked as well. We are unique in so much blending of so many nationalities.
#140
Re: Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
Brits line up this side...Americans that side.
#141
Re: Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
Well that particular one is maddening..
I almost forgot what I came in here for. So, she got fired from the UK version of the show too.. right? So it's therefore nothing to do with her accent?
I almost forgot what I came in here for. So, she got fired from the UK version of the show too.. right? So it's therefore nothing to do with her accent?
#142
Re: Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
She left the UK show to come to work on US X Factor.
#148
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 41,518
Re: Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
OK I think I've got it, we have to 'integrate' while the Americans call themselves Scottish/Greek/Swedish.
#149
Re: Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
So you are saying, if they really were, say, Irish, they would not call themselves an Irish-American, they would just call themselves American. Anyone who calls themselves Irish-American is betraying their ignorance of European culture and so have unmasked themselves as just ole' American. Can't we just throw them in a river and see if they sink?
#150
I have a comma problem
Joined: Feb 2009
Location: Fox Lake, IL (from Carrickfergus NI)
Posts: 49,598
Re: Cheryl Cole dumped from US X Factor due to Geordie accent
Hey - didn't homo sapiens originate in East Africa then migrate to Europe via the Middle East and that? Does that mean we can say we're African-Moorish-Arabic-Slavic-Teutonic-Roman-Viking-Anglo Saxon-American?
Or am I just stirring shit . . .